Poetry: My Pilot Light

My Pilot Light

.
In a hidden crevice
between soul and skin,
there is a flicker,
a tangerine flame
blazing through black abyss;
illuminating infinite veins of strength
that light like gun powder;
a thousand volts of survival
searing through my core.

.

There is a whisper in that flame,
ripples beyond discernible sound,
that directs me to take solace
in the unwavering knowledge
that my dreams are already realized,
waiting on life’s top shelf;
I have only to climb up and see
that they were never out of reach,
only temporarily out of sight.
.

I know this more securely
than I can be sure of anything else:
love, marriage, children,
are rolls of a roulette dice
that tumble around in a risky blur
chancing to settle on snake eyes,
but desire, aspiration, ambition and execution
are coordinates on my internal map
and I will never lose direction.

.

Spin all the cobwebs of doubt
that you believe can trap my will,
but what I have you can’t touch
or break, or steal, or burn out;
such is the radiance
of my inextinguishable flame
burning on a wick of passion,
feeding on a fuel of might,
and guaranteed to burn the hand
that comes too close
to touching
my pilot light.

To Name is to Give Presence

What was once empty cyber space is now “Nectar of Language,” my very first blog spot. My intention is to use this outlet to help organize my collage of thoughts and ideas for various writing projects—that’s my intention—but more realistically, I will probably end up on wild tangents about whatever I happen to find interesting during the week! Even then, all of those uninhibited rants that I’m sure will populate this blog contribute to the creative ignitions of poetry and story-writing that I hope to stimulate through consistent and dedicated writing practices.

Naming my blog took some thought. I really enjoy the process of assigning to a person, place, animal, or thing, a name. Names are important, they distinguish entities from one another and infuse a sense of life or presence into whatever is being newly christened. For a blog, I think the name imprints a tone or sense of style on the overall blogging experience. Originally, I had the idea to call my blog “Loose Change” or “Pocket Change,” sort-of relating to a loose collection of my thoughts, but I decided I didn’t want to imprint my blog with a tone that implied hap-hazard thinking. I want this space to help me focus on strengthening my ideas and creativity and I needed a name that would reflect that.

So why “Nectar of Language?” The word nectar is derived from Latin, meaning “drink of the gods,” but of course everyone knows what nectar is in modern English, that sweet sugar-rich liquid produced by various flowers (sugar source for honey, yum!). Personally, I feel there is a beautiful imagery associated with a flower’s nectar and how it attracts pollinating animals such as hummingbirds and butterflies. I wanted to associate that kind of power and beauty with Language. Language has given life to many forms of artistic expression: story-telling, poetry, music lyrics, scripts for plays, ect. These forms of expression are the sweet nectar of language--exactly what I hope to share in my new blog.